Conference: Increasing Underrepresented Minorities in STEM: The NOBCChE Annual Conference

This award, jointly funded by the Divisions of Chemistry, Division of Material Science, Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM HBCU-UP, and the Systems and Synthetic Biology Programs, supports Professor Tyrslai Williams-Carter and Professor Renã AS Robinson on behalf of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) to support students in chemistry, chemical engineering, or related disciplines to attend the organization’s annual conferences. Diversifying the chemical enterprise is a national challenge and priority to strengthen the nation’s workforce and for the US to remain globally competitive. The NOBCChE annual conference provides opportunities for underrepresented students in chemistry, chemical engineering, and related disciplines to be exposed to career opportunities, share their research progress and findings, access a network of professional mentors and training, and learn the latest cutting-edge research in their disciplinary areas. This project addresses questions around the importance of an organization such as NOBCChE, and its annual conference on providing support for underrepresented groups to matriculate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The project will evaluate over three years how effective its annual conference is on the scientific identities of undergraduate and graduate students that participate in conference activities. Additionally, the project will evaluate the impact of the conference sense of belonging in STEM for the students and will measure outcomes of the proposed activities on STEM employment and education. The project team and NOBCChE organization are committed to diversifying the STEM workforce and ensuring underrepresented groups have the necessary resources to be successful in STEM. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.